On the Slate: Raw Cut & Blue Chip

From a new look at domestic violence to a new approach to crime fighting: it's the latest projects from Raw Cut Television and Blue Chip Films.

From a new look at domestic violence to a new approach to crime fighting: it’s the latest projects from Raw Cut Television and Blue Chip Films.

Zip and kit
It’s hard to argue that high-speed car chases don’t draw audiences. Bullitt, The French Connection, The Fast & the Furious, and even the 1994 white Ford Bronco pursuit a la OJ Simpson are proof enough that any kind of car chase will attract a lot of attention. And, if fast cars aren’t enough to attract male viewers, toss some fancy technology in there and testosterone is sure to overpower estrogen in the audience figures.

It’s this combination that Raw Cut Television seems to have right in its series for Five, Police Interceptors. The program follows officers in a new kind of unit, based in Essex, who use state of the art crime fighting technology – such as the incredibly fast Mitsubishi Evo VIIIs and Subaru Impreza WRCs as well as a helicopter equipped with some series gadgetry – to chase down criminals. Each episode features at least one high energy pursuit. The series also focuses on the technology the team is using, from the cars to the cameras, so it’s not all adrenaline and high blood pressure throughout the entire 60 minute episode. The first series aired to high praise on Five, followed by a behind-the-scenes spin off called Police Interceptors:Special Edition on Fiver. London-based prodco Raw Cut is currently working on the second series, which will once again be narrated by The Bill‘s Christopher Fox and will wrap in mid-January 2009.

Husband Abuse
Taking a different perspective on relationship problems Norwalk-based prodco Blue Chip Films has two new docs in production for WEtv’s Secret Lives of Women. The first project is a doc that follows a number of people who have encountered different kinds of domestic violence but who each have one thing in common; they’re all men who were abused by their female partners. Husband Beaters looks at the male victims of female aggressors. One subject’s experience being abused for years by his partner lead him to fight to have legislation passed that would force domestic violence shelters to help both women and men, while another subject fought for the custody of his children and won because of a decade of abuse he’d faced from his wife. Apparently men are the victims in one third of domestic violence cases, a statistic which lead Blue Chip to create this HD one off. The program wraps in December.

The other project Blue Chip has on the go for Secret Lives of Women looks at how women and children are treated in the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints church which, famously, encourages polygamy and subjugation of women. While looking at polygamy as a women and children’s issue, Polygamy will also take a look behind this particular sect at the congressional hearings that deemed it a organized crime group and an investigator who said the FLDS would ‘make Waco look like a tea party.’ Polygamy wraps in mid-January 2009.

About The Author

Meagan Kashty is an associate editor of realscreen, an international print and online magazine that covers the non-fiction film and television industries. Meagan is an award-winning business journalist. Prior to joining the realscreen team, Meagan was online editor of Canadian Grocer, named Magazine of the Year at the 2015 Canadian Business Media Awards. She can be reached at mkashty@brunico.com, and you can follow her on Twitter @MegKashty